News feminist philosophers can use

Day: February 2, 2008

Who does the thinking feminist philosopher vote for? Whoever they want to, of course. There are two sides to me, to be honest. There’s the completely cynical, and the deeply idealistic. I had made up my mind to reason completely cynically and consequentially about this election. Here’s what I was going to say:

The fact is that the media hates Clinton— in a hideous, childish, irrational, and often sexist way. They’ve hated her for a long time, and I really don’t think they’re likely to change. They also love Obama. We need to get a Democrat in the White House. We’ve tried the candidate the media hates before. It didn’t work out too well. So this time let’s go with Obama, the one the media loves.

Then something happened. I watched Obama’s MLK Day speech. And the idealist in me woke up and jumped on board. Watch it yourself and see how you feel. (It’s 34 minutes, but worth it.)

If you’re not moved, by the way, I still think the cynical argument is an excellent one. (Why am I not discussing issues? Because, on the issues, they are both so vastly better than any Republican that the most important thing is simply to get one of them in.) Let me know what you think. I can see some possible worries for the cynical argument, but I still find it powerful.